It’s a quiet evening as I begin to write. I’m enjoying the strand of colorful lights draped artistically (perhaps whimsically) over our living room windows. We call them our “Winter Lights.” Their glow brings a great deal of cheer to our home during these early evenings. With small bits of white on the ground from a snow this week, and the wind’s bitter chill reminding me it’s not spring quite yet, the garden is mostly relegated to our dreams…
But not completely. Tiny kohlrabi sprouts, onion and garlic bulbs, and tender pea shoots are braving the cold earth out there. Inside, Mommy’s baby pepper seedlings are coming on strong under grow lights!
This time is what I enjoy thinking of as the “cozy dreaming” season! There are seed catalogs to pore over and new plantings to envision, unburdened by any relentless weeds or burning heat.
It’s also an ideal time for reflection. What worked last year? What could I improve? Can we tackle something different this season? I love how, with every growing season, there are sweet successes, new challenges to navigate, and always something new to learn. Many spiritual parallels also wait to be discovered in sowing seed, watching God do His mighty work to grow good things.
Today, I’d like to walk back over our 2024 garden – our first serious garden in this location. It was wonderful! God blessed us with much produce. We had relatively low bug pressure (probably because it was a new area!). The soil is a delight to work with. And, yes, I learned a lot!
Here are a few simple takeaways and new discoveries from this garden!
1) There’s a Time For a Tractor
For the past 15-20 years or so, most of my family’s garden work has been done nearly exclusively with manual tools – digging forks, hoes, spades, and rakes. The exception would be a weed-eater or tiller here and there for specific applications.
Starting out here, we did a lot of forking to prep beds for planting. But to expand our space, we also utilized a tiller to prep more area…and, then, the tractor and chisel plow generously offered and operated by my brother. I know there are varying opinions on tilling vs. mulching to prep the soil vs. hand tools, etc.
I agree that mulching/minimal soil disturbance is ideal, especially “in a perfect world.” However, realistically, there are constraints of time and muscle power. So, while using the additional power was different than past years, it certainly helped us get this garden growing!
I’m thinking now that we’ve “reclaimed” this area, removed some of the outstanding rocks, and are using roots and mulch to keep the soil loose, we can keep the tilling to a minimum.
2) We Need a Fence
We learned the pressure from critters here is significantly higher than in our past garden! This is odd, because we have much closer neighbors now. But that doesn’t bother the deer! They tracked the garden up and helped themselves to succulent greens and our beautiful bean plants before we could harvest them. I learned even okra is not immune to their nibbling!
The groundhogs were also a problem, gorging themselves at the free salad bar in broad daylight! And something – rabbits or deer, or perhaps the pesky groundhogs – mowed down our sweet potato starts over and over again.
Last year we had some success with using an orange plastic netting around beds of particularly enticing crops, but we’ve decided we need something more substantial. The hope is to try out an electric netting and see if that will stop them!
3) Caging and Trellising
We knew it, and proved it yet again. Tomato plants are much cleaner and happier for all involved when they are promptly caged soon after planting and kept pruned. We started with small stakes, then got the first row caged. But for some plants on the second row, we waited a bit too long. Even with this, we are thankful for a bumper crop of tomatoes!
For the pepper plants, we found using string to trellis them between a couple t-posts worked very well! Trellising is an art that I’d like to learn more about. And new for 2025: we have an arched trellis, for peas and cucumbers!! I’m so excited about adding this bit of multi-use infrastructure to our garden!
4) You Can Freeze Lettuce
Yes, it’s true! Have you ever wondered how you’ll ever eat all the lettuce in the spring? You can only eat so much salad before the lettuce bolts! For a long time, we’ve wished there was some way to preserve it. My lovely sister came to to rescue and found out it can be preserved quite simply by freezing it in plastic bags for a fantastic addition to green-drink smoothies! Beet tops and kale, too!
5) Double-Cropping
I found I LOVED double-cropping! (I don’t know if that’s the technical name or not! 🙂 ) It’s just the super-simple concept of planting two or three different crops within the same bed at the same time. This might mean planting beets and greens alongside growing raspberry canes, or planting green beans with okra. What a difference it makes in maximizing garden space! I’m hoping to utilize this a lot more!
6) Skip Curing the Onions
In years past, we’ve attempted to cure our onions whole for longer storage by carefully laying them out on wire. In spite of our efforts, we usually ended up having to cut off quite a bit of rot. I believe our high humidity really takes a toll on onions… So, in 2024, we pretty much just harvested them when they reached maturity, chopped them up, and froze them, ready to use. It’s super handy and there was very minimal waste.
7) Favorite New Vegetable of the Year
Last year we discovered we really like eggplant and are ready to expand this year! There are so many varieties available! I tried a longer, thin variety, but we were also blessed by some friends who shared their abundance of standard size eggplants with us. They were fantastic! I’m hoping to get some seeds started soon.
Even while the cold is still settled in around us, I’m looking forward to incorporating some of these findings into this year’s garden, Lord willing!
No “cozy dreaming reflections” would be complete without a pause to realize: gardening is a gift! In an incredible, mysterious exchange of sun, rain, soil life, hands in the dirt, and, most importantly, God’s creative touch and increase, a dry bit of seed sprouts…and grows…and soon we’re picking up an abundance of amazing food. It is a living parable of the seed of God’s Word taking root in a ready heart.“…The ones that fell on good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” (Luke 8:15) What a wonder! God is so good!
I’d love to hear from YOU!
What’s your best garden takeaway from 2024? Are you an eggplant fan – and if so, what’s your favorite way to enjoy it? 🙂 What are you most looking forward to in the garden?
Thank you so much for reading!
Because of Jesus,
Maggie ♥
Sarah Silvey
February 22, 2025 at 4:18 pmI enjoyed reading about your 2024 garden, Maggie! I can’t believe this year’s gardening season is almost upon us. So, I tried eggplant for the first time several weeks ago… I cut it in circle slices and roasted them in the oven, with olive oil, garlic powder, and salt/pepper. I liked it, but I think I would cut the slices thicker next time (they were about 1/2 thick). I would love to hear how you enjoy fixing it!